Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is a life-saving therapy for refractory respiratory failure but is it working for patients of COVID-19? A relation between lymphocyte count and disease severity has been found but the count drastically decreases during ECMO. So how should treatment for COVID-19 patients be administered?

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The Lancet carried an article by Henry BM, titled ‘COVID-19, ECMO, and Lymphopenia: A Word of Caution’, which provides research-based observations on the use of ECMO and the advantages of monitoring lymphocytes in patients. [1]. The observations are as given below:

1. A small sample of six patients with severe COVID-19 was studied for their clinical characteristics and outcomes. Of the six who had received ECMO, only one had survived.
2. While giving ECMO, a substantial decrease in the lymphocyte count and even the functioning of some population of lymphocytes is said to be common and expected. There is a relation between the lymphocyte count and disease severity in the new Coronavirus patients.
3. There is variance observed in the interleukin-6 (IL-6) concentrations between survivors and non-survivors of COVID-19.